After Ryan, Dilian, and Susan left, everyone was shocked. They never expected these three to appear so motivated and vigorous. After all, these three were the ones who usually felt like doing nothing. It was odd to them, and yet what those three had said resonated with them. Excluding Sofia, because she was a child and Jen, Boss, and Mark who had only just arrived, everyone felt complacent. They felt like as long as they stuck together, nothing bad would happen, and yet they were mistaken. No one actively sought out strength. Don had trained them the basics of using a gun, but aside from daily training, no one cared to seek out strength or even figure out how to use their Seed Power.
This was why everything those three said to them began to resonate with them. "Ha..." Rebecca would pause for a moment after a pity laugh, "I guess we've let those three outdo me. They are right, though. John's mother wouldn't want us to continue on like this. She would want us to keep moving on with smiles on our faces." Rebecca would finish.
Everyone seemed to have some form of agreement. "I'll go make everyone something eat. She always said it was best to keep everyone fed since people are happier on a full stomach." Alice would speak up. "I'll help!" Sarah exclaimed, and the two of them hurried to the kitchen. "I'll head back to the garage. We need those weapons now more than ever." Noah would state. "I'll tag along after I make sure the bugs won't show up." Tyrone would add, and Noah would nod with a smile.
"I'll take a look around the area then." Boss would comment, and Jen would pitch in, "I'll follow ya." The two of them left. They actually wanted to make sure that no one else would try to attack them. They had dealt with their fair share of Contenders while making their way to Downtown.
"We'll do some cleaning right now. Come along, Sofia." Catalina would comment and make her way to the supply closet. "Okay, mommy!" Sofia exclaimed happily, seeing her parents were smiling once again. Juan followed them to help out with the cleaning.
Josh and Jake said they were going do some training of their own and went off to an area far enough from their own home. It was about a thirty-minute walk away, but the place they were at would do just fine. Ion and Jessica said they would tag along with Josh and Jake, so they went with them. As for April, she decided to return to Don's side. Natalie also wanted to check up on John and Don, so she went with her.
This left Rebecca. She was sitting in the living room with a smile across her face. Sure everyone went about doing their own tasks, but the atmosphere wasn't filled with as much despair as before. Sure everyone was still sad about what had happened, but they also had resolved something in silence. No one said it, but everyone knew it.
Once Don woke up and explained his story, they would ask him to train them. Although, no one truly knew how gruel and cruel his training was. Only Rose knew, and that was because she was a hitwoman. Plus, she was having a hard time keeping up. Rebecca looked towards Mark, who was sitting on the couch. "Sorry, you arrived only to witness this." Rebecca would comment, and Mark shook his hand dismissively. "No need to apologize. I completely understand. I can tell this woman was special. Even my mistress is affected by it." Mark would comment. Rebecca's brow rose at the word mistress. Last night, Mark did say he was Natalie's bodyguard in a way. "Speaking of, why do you call her your mistress? Is there any particular reason?" Rebecca asked, and Mark chuckled lightly with a slight blush on his cheek.
"It's a bit embarrassing, but well, Natalie saved me. Unlike Ion and Jessica, I mostly specialize in infiltration and assassination. As we were traveling when a giant scorpion attacked us. Ion and Jessica dealt with it quickly, but a second had come out of hiding. We weren't prepared for it, and just as soon as it was about to sting Natalie with its stinger, I pushed her out of the way." Mark would begin explaining to Rebecca.
Mark would fiddle with his fingers to reveal a super thin line. "This is my Seed Power." Mark would begin to create a small figure out of thin lines. It looked like wiring, to be honest, but the property was different. A soft pink color flared in his eyes. Rebecca would squint her eyes, and there she barely noticed a soft pink line that slowly formed into a small person.
"String?" Rebecca asked, and Mark shook his head. "Not quite. It's extremely flexible but also durable. Not even a bullet can break through a single line. In fact, it cuts bullets cleanly through. I've tested it out, and I can even use the string to mince a vehicle in seconds." Mark would explain, and Rebecca relaxed her glance. "I see. That's quite handy." Rebecca said, and Mark would nod. "The downside is that I can not increase the size of the string. If I want the string to be bigger, I need to layer it multiple times, and doing so takes time. In addition to that, it consumes a lot of energy." Mark would add while letting Rebecca look over the string.
"I used my Seed Power on the scorpion, but I couldn't quite pierce through. It broke the outer layer only a little, but I was able to deflect its tail thrust away. The stinger did clip me, and the venom wasn't pleasant to deal with. I had pushed Natalie out of the way before that. Ion and Jessica eliminated the scorpion shortly after I took the blow. Natalie proceeded to do some emergency procedures on me. With the help of Ion, I was able to get back on my feet." Mark explained although it seemed like he had left out a lot of information. Like how Mark didn't like Natalie. How he couldn't trust her, and how he had problems with her. Even though he had felt that way about her, he still saved her, which nearly cost him his life. Of course, that was a while back, now Mark was in love with Natalie, or at least Jessica said he was.
Rebecca would nod. "I see. Good to know there are also giant scorpions as well.." Rebecca seemed exhausted with this world. At this point, anything else wouldn't be surprising to her, at least she would think for now. She had completely forgotten that Don died and returned to life and that he would have some explaining to do.
While everyone was doing their own thing at the house, Ryan, Dilian, and Susan were pushing themselves. They didn't speak a word and kept to their morning training. Usually, they would take it in leisure, but they were putting forth all they had right now. While they were running, they were thinking of a way they could unlock their Seed Power. If they had their Seed Power, they could help everyone. Unfortunately, none of them knew how to even activate their Seed Power. From Ion and Jessica's explanation a while back, it was something unique to each person. As they were coming to the turning point of the run, they stopped for a moment.
They noticed undead had come up from behind them, and some were even coming out of hiding. It wasn't like they were ambushing them. The undead had no intellect. They had just heard the footfalls and followed them, which in turn lead them to those three. "Umm..." Susan was scared. She looked around hastily. "We are surrounded..." Dillian muttered and grit his teeth. "Do not give up!" Ryan shouted, which caused them to look at him. "Here." Ryan picked up a sharp shard of metal and handed it to Sussan. He found a large rock on the ground and gave it to Dillian while picking up a study stick with a pointy end. It wasn't like a sword but more like a knife. "We can't expect people to save us all the time. If we continue to count on others to help us, then when will we ever grow!?" Ryan exclaimed. Susan and Dillian could see how compassionate he was. This wasn't like Ryan. They had been friends since childhood. Sure, when Ryan was younger, he was a compassionate guy, but he just lost that flare one day. When they asked him why he didn't give them a straight answer. They decided to drop it then and never asked about it again.
"I won't let that tragedy happen again," Ryan muttered and stepped forward. He took hold of an undead that was close up. Taking hold of the face with care not to be beaten, and quickly jammed the stick through the bottom of the throat. Since the flesh was decaying and pretty much rotten, it was easy for the sharp stick to go through to the brain. Ryan quickly pulled the stick out and pushed the undead towards another, which caused the undead to fall over. Next, Ryan would pivot on his heel and swing wide at another undead. He had flipped the grip of his stick to ice-pick gripe and plunged the sharp end of the stick into the temple of the undead, which went through the weakened bone and flesh, killing the brain. As he pulled the stick out, the undead dropped to the ground.
He turned around only to see an undead had gotten too close and leaned in to take a bite out of him. Ryan was going to his next meal, but Dillian had come up and bashed the undead in the head with the large rock. He did it again and again until the Undead no longer moved. After which, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and gave Ryan a thumbs-up. Ryan nodded with a smirk; they would turn to help Sussan, who had managed to kill one of them, but more were coming. They kept a tight formation. They knew if they had spread out, they were done for.
As the undead began to dwindle down, their eyes began to light up with hope, but that hope disappeared afterward. They saw something they didn't want to see.
Bugs.
It wasn't just one type either.
Coming to their location was two Yellow Jackets. Further behind, they saw a few roaches and the most dangerous of all, a Spider. Luckily, it seemed like the Spider was after the roaches and Yellow Jackets. So this gave them time to deal with the remaining undead. They were gonna make a break for it afterward, but just as they finished the final undead, something came out of the shadows. It had barely managed to tackle Sussan, but Ryan pulled her out with a hare of a second to spare. The undead was on all four like some kind of wild beast. It looked like an undead, but something was off about it.
"Is that a zombie?" Dillian asked, confused. "I don't know. It looks like one, but..." Sussan would comment. Ryan grit his teeth. "It's not a normal zombie! We need to get out of here!" Ryan shouted. They wanted to escape, but that zombie was blocking their path. They would have to go around, but coming from the other direction was the bugs. "Not a normal zombie!?" Dillian asked. "I don't have time to explain, but it looks like a zombie from a game I played. If anything, It's probably a mutated one. They are stronger, faster, and actually have intellect, but their base instinct is just to eat." Ryan gave them a short explanation. "Great..." Sussan said with sarcasm and fear in her voice. "But we can't go around. The bugs are blocking our rear!" Dillian shouted. "Then we'll have to chance it with going through the buildings and alleys. Come on!" Ryan shouted and made a mad dash for the alley. Susan followed suit, then Dillian.
They raced through backyards. Thankfully, most of the fences were broken down, but some they had to climb over. The mutated undead quickly went after them. It was hot on their heels. Since they had to take the time to climb over a few fences, it had time to catch up, and eventually, it did. It didn't have to climb over the fences. It could just leap right over. Just as soon as Ryan was about to hop over the fence he was tackled into the backyard. He allowed Susan and Dillian to take the front, so when they saw him on his back trying his best to shove off the undead, they didn't know what to do.
"Ryan!" Dillian called out.
"Just go! Warn the others. You two have to make it back, at least! Go!" Ryan knew something that these two didn't. If this hunch was right, then that meant that there was a horde of these things making their way here. In the game, he played this type of undead was known as a Feral. They were faster than the normal undead. Stronger as well, and had intellect. Unlike the normal undead, these undead knew when their meal was trying to escape. They could block pathways or even ambush them in wait. But the most problematic thing was that they always traveled in hordes. If there was only one, then more were going to show up soon.
Dillian and Sussan didn't know what to do. They didn't want to leave Ryan to his death. Ryan was doing his best to keep the undead from biting into him. He didn't know what would happen if the undead scratched him or not, but that wasn't his main worry right now. He was trying to find the right moment to jam the stick into the undead's head but wasn't able to overpower the undead that had him pinned to the ground.
"We have to help him..." Dillian would remark and hastily made his way towards Ryan's side. Still, just as he got close enough, the Feral shifted its target. It pushed off Ryan and lept onto Dillian. Dillian was surprised and in fear. He brought his arms up instinctively to shield himself.
"NO!" Ryan shouted and reached out for Dillian. Just as he did, his eyes flared a vivid blue, and a massive surge of water rushed from his hand and pushed the undead further away. The undead slammed against the other end of the fence. Sussan had to duck to avoid behind hit by the pillar of water. As the roaring of water died down, it stopped altogether, and Sussan looked around. She turned to see the undead was missing some limbs, which included the head. The rest of the body looked like a mangled mess. She threw up instantly from the sight.
"Ryan..." Dillian looked from the undead to Ryan, who was breathing heavily. He looked like he was going to pass out, and he did.
"Ryan!" Dillian shouted and quickly got up to make his way towards his friend. Sussan had finished throwing up and looked over to see Ryan had passed out. She looked back at the undead for a moment to make sure it was actually dead now, and when she felt like it was, she made her way towards Ryan and Dillian. Dillian was trying to wake up his friend. He figured that maybe the undead got him. He saw the scratch marks all over his body. Sussan would place a hand on Dillian's shoulder, which made him look at her. "I think he just passed out. We need to hurry back. Let's go. Can you carry him?" Sussan asked, and Dillian would nod. "I'll carry him on my back. Can you help me situate him?" Dillian asked. Sussan was right. They needed to get back to the others. Dillian would carry Ryan on his back, and Sussan would take point. They would hurry, but at the same time, they decided to be cautious. After all, they had Ryan, who was out cold.
Meanwhile, in the white room. The boy was sitting on the couch eating a bag of chips.
"Has it begun already? My... I didn't think it would happen so soon. I wonder how you are going to deal with this Paradox, Donathan." The boy was watching everything that happened on a giant television. Since Don was out cold, he decided to watch the others. Although, they were boring. None of them interested him as much as Don. He kept switching the view as someone did on a security camera, and that was when he saw the mutated undead. This wasn't the first time he saw this kind of thing.
It appeared after Don's first rewind. A paradox was created, and each time Don would rewind, something new came out. The first time the mutated undead appeared was after three months. Even the boy was shocked to see it, but his elder sister explained it to him. It was because no one was supposed to go back in time. The test planet wasn't meant for that, and there was no parallel to send them to. So the test planet was created for just that, a test. There were many test planets like it for each type of existence, but the boy and his two sisters were in charge of the test planet for Earth. The one for humanity.
"It's sooner than before. I wonder if it has to do with Don coming back to life the way he did and recalling everything." The boy would remark; his interest in what would happen to Don and his group was now growing. He already had an interest in Don, but now he wondered how his group would handle this kind of thing. After all, the boy knew what other kind of mutations would occur later on in the future. He wondered if Don and his group would capable of dealing with them.
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Author here:
Mass released ended.
The stone goal in Author thought.
Thank you for your support and for enjoying my novel!